News of: Tuesday, 22nd of May, 2012

Front Page

Rapid Action Battalion seized more than 3 lakh litres of furnace oil from Anu Majhir Ghat in Chittagong on Sunday night when the fuel was being hauled for black market, said the elite crime fighting force yesterday.

The International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday expressed annoyance at irrelevant exhibits, including a family album of Bangabandhu, submitted by the investigation officer in a case against Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee.

The CNG filling stations in the city and elsewhere will remain closed from 5:00pm to 9:00pm every day from today instead of the existing six-hour closure from 3:00pm in line with a government decision.

A Yemeni soldier packing powerful explosives under his uniform blew himself up in the middle of an army battalion in Sanaa yesterday, killing 96 troops and wounding around 300, a military official and medics said.

A second Bangladeshi woman mountaineer, Wasfia Nazreen, started her push for the summit of Mount Everest yesterday, two days after Nishat Majumder conquered the world's highest peak as the first Bangladeshi woman.

US Ambassador in Bangladesh Dan Mozena yesterday laid stress on constructive and meaningful dialogue among political parties so that they could agree to a mechanism for holding a free, fair, credible and participatory election.

An explosion that injured 14 activists of Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP), a hill students' organisation, in Rangamati town on Saturday was caused by a hand-made bomb, not a grenade as alleged and reported in different media, police said yesterday.

Editorial

We thank Begum Zia for choosing a non-violent means to ventilate her party's stand. That a peaceful civic protest can carry the intended message more loudly than any other form of political agitation has been proven by the BNP's hunger protest.

Another Bangladeshi female youth has done us proud. Nishat Majumdar, a 31-year-old accountant, has become the first Bangladeshi woman to conquer the Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. We congratulate her on this outstanding achievement and also for the indomitable spirit and determination that she has displayed in pursuing her dream and realizing it.

Sheikh Russel KC's four-match winning streak was snapped when they were held to a goalless draw by Arambagh KS in their Grameenphone Bangladesh Premier League encounter at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.

League leaders Abahani will be the favourites when they take on old foes Mohammedan SC in an eagerly-anticipated contest of the Grameenphone Bangladesh Premier League at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today.

Viswanathan Anand is back in the match. The world champion played a peach of a game on Monday to force challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel to submission and tie the series at 4-all, with four games to go in the World Chess Championship match in Moscow.

Wraiths defeated Josephites 66-35 in the Citycell Basketball League at the Dhanmondi Basketball gymnasium yesterday. Adib and Shuvo were the top scorers for Wraiths with 13 and 12 points respectively while Jubair was the top scorer for the Josephites with 11 points.

Feni Cricket Institute defeated Bengal Club by four wickets in the second division cricket league at the Shaheed Salam Stadium yesterday. Batting first, Bengal Club scored 152 losing all their wickets which Feni chased down losing six wickets.

Indian Premier League (IPL) cricketer Rahul Sharma denied any wrongdoing Monday after he and teammate Wayne Parnell were detained by police at a late-night party, in the latest scandal to hit the tournament.

Montpellier claimed the first French league title in their history after winning 2-1 at Auxerre on an extraordinary final day of the season on Sunday, after a game twice delayed due to protests by the home fans.

Bayern Munich midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger on Monday apologised for not shaking the hand of German President Joachim Gauck after the German club's Champions League defeat to Chelsea in Munich at the weekend.

Business

The government took up a bigger annual development programme (ADP) in the current fiscal year as always, but could implement only 55 percent of the revised ADP in the first 10 months, the lowest in three years.

Electronics goods and motorcycle importers yesterday urged the government to reduce duty on imports as they are paying what they said illogical duties, losing competitive edge to the local manufacturers.

Commerce Secretary Ghulam Hussain has been selected as the chairman of the Committee of the Whole-II (COW-II) of the ongoing 68th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in Bangkok.

What should be the long-term vision for the euro zone? The standard answer is fully-fledged fiscal, banking and political union. Many euro zone politicians advocate it. So do those on the outside such as David Cameron, Britain's prime minister, who last week called on the zone to “make up or break up”.

Imagine a scenario -- your customer purchases an airline ticket online using his/her credit card. In a couple of hours your bank's call centre executive gets in touch with the customer to sell a travel insurance product. The chances of the customer positively responding to this call are very high, simply because the bank has grasped upon the right time to sell the right product to the right customer. This real-time reaction to an event seems the most logical step for the bank, but unfortunately is one of the most difficult tasks to execute. In fact, today while there is plenty of cross-selling batch based marketing taking place, banks can seldom guarantee that the customer receives a promotion offer when he/she is most interested in.

US Ambassador in Bangladesh Dan Mozena yesterday laid stress on constructive and meaningful dialogue among political parties so that they could agree to a mechanism for holding a free, fair, credible and participatory election.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged Bangladeshi expatriates to supplement the government efforts in strengthening democracy in the country and to remain alert about the propaganda being carried out by BNP and Jamaat against the country.

In spite of enacting laws to strengthen local government bodies four years ago, the government is yet to formulate policies in light of those laws, causing the bodies to turn almost ineffective, said speakers yesterday.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Prof Mizanur Rahman urged the National Bureau of Revenue to withdraw its plan to impose new taxes on the bidi industry considering the interests of the workers there.

Dhaka has strongly protested the killing of an unarmed Bangladeshi national by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) in Chapainawabganj on May 16 and called for immediate effective action to prevent such incidents from recurring in future.

The High Court (HC) yesterday summoned an upazila nirbahi officer (UNO), a local police Station officer-in-charge (OC) and two ward councillors to appear before it to explain their roles over an incident of child marriage at Sadar upazila in Meherpur.

Two women's rights organisations yesterday urged the government to properly implement the budgetary allocation for women to turn them into skilled human resources in the science, technology and mass communication sectors.

A mobile court of state owned Petrobangla, on the first day of its drive against illegal gas connections yesterday fined Tk 60 lakh and disconnected gas connection of a re-rolling mill at Postogola in the capital.

Former students of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism (MCJ) of Dhaka University will publish a memorial book on Prof QAIM Nuruddin, one of the founders of the department, says a press release.

National

The land subsidence affected people around Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Ltd (BCMCL) yesterday warned of an indefinite hunger strike if the remaining amount of their compensation and rehabilitation package money is not disbursed by June 17.

Local journalists at a protest meeting at Pabna Press Club yesterday announced weeklong demonstration programmes in the district demanding the punishment of the criminals who injured the daily Samakal reporter ABM Fazlur Rahman on the campus of Pabna Edward College on Saturday.

English language fairs under English in Schools programme, a joint initiative of The Daily Star and mobile operator Robi, were held at six schools in Lalmonirhat, Jessore, Feni and Chandpur districts yesterday.

Local people have submitted complaint with civil and police administration against the chairman of Banglabandha union parishad in Tentulia upazila under Panchagarh district for cutting down and selling 30 jackfruit and mahogany trees beside Gowalgoch-Uttar Kashipur road.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday remained non-committal on backing Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee as president saying her party would strongly support Speaker Meira Kumar for the post.

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will be charged over an April protest demanding fair elections, his lawyer said yesterday, accusing the government of a fresh bid to remove Anwar from politics.

Syrian forces ambushed and killed nine army deserters in a north Damascus suburb yesterday, a human rights watchdog said, as Nato ruled out military action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Aung San Suu Kyi will make a speech in Oslo next month to accept the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991, as part of her first trip outside Myanmar in 24 years, the Nobel Committee said yesterday.

Arts & Entertainment

To celebrate the 113th birth anniversary of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, as well as to mark the 90th anniversary of the publication of his most famed creation “Bidrohi”, Bangladesh and India will jointly hold a two-day programme in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The programme will commence on May 25 morning through offering flowers at the poet's grave on Dhaka University campus. The inaugural ceremony will be held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka at 9:30am.

Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts will organise a solo art exhibition, titled “Tribute to Bijan Choudhury” -- featuring the works of a distinguished member of the contemporary art movement as well as a one of the students of the first batch of Dacca Art College, artist Bijan Choudhury. The artist died on March 16 this year. The exhibition will begin today at Bengal Gallery in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, and will continue till May 31.

Theatre troupe Aranyak Natyadal staged the 50th show of “Ebong Bidyasagar” at the National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, on May 19. Highlighting the life and times of Ishwar Chandra Bidyasagar, the play has been written by Mannan Heera and directed by Mamunur Rashid.

“Citycell Taroka Kothon”, a show aired live on Channel i that has become hugely popular, recently completed 8 years. On the occasion, a press conference was held yesterday at Channel i centre in Dhaka.

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg burst on to the scene in Cannes in 1998 with the acclaimed “Festen”, and critics say he is close to his best again this year with “The Hunt”, a shocking take on child abuse and its impact on a small community.

A new show goes on air on Desh TV tonight. The discussion-based programme will highlight varied social problems such as road accidents, harassment of women, acid victims, traffic jam, corruption, pornography, drug addiction and domestic violence. Singer Mahmuduzzaman Babu is the anchor of the programme. The show will be telecast tonight at 9:45 pm.

Maasranga Television will telecast a series, titled “Modhyoraater Train”, based on mysterious and eerie real experiences. The episode featuring noted singer Sadi Muhammad will be telecast tonight at 11 pm. The singer will share his experience of shock and horror.

The gorgeous model and actress Monalisa is the featured celebrity of this month at DS Café. She will be on the hot seat and readers can fire away questions at her at The Daily Star Centre on May 26, between 4 and 5pm. The best question will be highlighted in the transcription. Call 8126155, 01711623915 and 01711623917 to speak to Monalisa.

OP-ED

Humay-un Ahm-ed is a popular novelist among Bangla-speaking readers in Bangladesh and elsewhere. At the February 21st book fair at Bangla Academy, Humayun's novels have long been bestsellers. Whenever, at any of the bookstalls of Ekusheyr Boi Mela (21st February's book fair), you come across a long queue of youngsters, you can be sure that it is for the latest novel by Humayun Ahmed that has just been published. Small wonder, over at least the last three decades, his novels have been the hottest item at the book fairs. Especially, readers in their 30s and below are crazy about Humayun's novels.

Bangladesh is currently passing through a huge energy crunch, which is very clear to most citizens of the land. The biggest challenge today is how efficiently and economically the policymakers will manage this crisis. We have two bulk sectors --powers and fertiliser -- that consume 43% and 12% natural gas of the country's total gas production respectively. Power undoubtedly is our top priority. But while there exist alternative energy sources for generating power, gas remains the only raw material for fertiliser production.

A number of conflicting decisions, including the rejection of the resignation letter of Sohel Taj by the Speaker, have highlighted the need to revisit our Constitution and see whether it ensures the Westminster styled neutrality.

My previous article, (The Daily Star, Sept. 15, 2011) provides a soul search as to the blunders in the beginning period of Bangladesh. In this article I would like to share my thoughts on how we can get out of the quagmire.

Bureaucracy has become a universal phenomenon. It is a pre-requisite for modernisation of every society. Most developing countries are engaged in nation building and bringing about socio-economic development, i.e., providing social services such as health, education, infrastructure like roads, electricity, productive activities in agriculture, industry etc. Thus, public administration becomes the key agency for development. Bureaucracy can immensely contribute to development by serving as adviser, inventor, and decision-maker.

Pollution is warming the atmosphere through summer thunderstorm clouds, according to a computational study published May 10 in Geophysical Research Letters. How much the warming effect of these clouds offsets the cooling that other clouds provide is not yet clear. To find out, researchers need to incorporate this new-found warming into global climate models

By following a pinball cascade of ecological consequences, researchers have traced the far-flung influences of preserving bird-friendly native forests versus replacing those forests with coconut palms on the Pacific atoll of Palmyra.

When the sodium chloride dissolves into the pineapple it will break apart into sodium and chloride ions. The sodium ion will then react with the malic and citric acids present in the pineapple to form neutral sodium salts. Acids normally have a tart or sour taste but when they are converted into neutral compounds they lose this sourness, and so the pineapple tastes sweeter. Source